Method and apparatus for reading and writing committed data

ABSTRACT

According to some aspects, a database system comprising a processor configured to execute a plurality of system components is provided. The plurality of system components may include an interface component configured to receive a write commit command and provide a write commit confirmation, a snapshot component configured to generate a plurality of snapshots of data stored in a data storage node of a plurality of data storage nodes and identify a committed snapshot representative of data that has been replicated on a majority of the plurality of data storage nodes, and a command processing component configured to modify a data element based on the write commit command, determine whether the majority of the plurality of storage nodes have replicated the modification using the committed snapshot, and generate the write commit confirmation responsive to a determination that the majority of the plurality of data storage nodes have replicated the modification.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/605,276, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR READING AND WRITINGCOMMITTED DATA” filed May 25, 2017, which claims priority under 35U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/343,494,entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR READING AND WRITING COMMITTED DATA”filed on May 31, 2016, which is herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Databases may include multiple disks to store redundant data. Theredundant storage of data in multiple disks may improve the rate atwhich data can be read from the database by spreading out read requestsover multiple disks or systems. Further, the redundant storage of datamay improve uptime of the database by making the database more robust tofailures.

SUMMARY

According to some aspects, systems and methods are provided to read andwrite commit data in a database that redundantly stores data. Committeddata may include, for example, data that has been written to at least apredetermined number of storage devices in the database. In someembodiments, the system may identify committed data within the databaseand process certain read requests (e.g., read commit requests) byreading the identified committed data. Thereby, the database may providean indication of what data has been replicated on at least a certainnumber of storage devices in the database. Further, the system may allowcertain write requests (e.g., write commit requests) that provide aconfirmation once the particular changes in the write request have beenreplicated on at least a predetermined number of storage devices in thedatabase.

According to at least one aspect, a database system is provided. Thedatabase system includes at least one processor configured to execute aplurality of system components. The plurality of system components mayinclude an interface component configured to receive a read commitcommand and provide a result, a snapshot component configured togenerate a plurality of snapshots of data stored in a first data storagenode of a plurality of data storage nodes and identify a committedsnapshot representative of data that has been replicated on a majorityof the plurality of data storage nodes, and a command processingcomponent configured to read the committed snapshot responsive toreceipt of the read commit command and generate the result using thecommitted snapshot.

In one embodiment, each snapshot of the plurality of snapshots on afirst storage node corresponds to the data stored in the first storagenode of the plurality of data storage nodes at unique point in time. Inone embodiment, the interface is further configured to receive aconfirmation from a second data storage node of the plurality of datastorage nodes that the second data storage node has replicated data fromthe first data storage node. In one embodiment, the snapshot componentis further configured to identify a new committed snapshot responsive toreceipt of the confirmation from the second data storage node. In oneembodiment, the snapshot component is further configured to remove atleast one snapshot from the plurality of snapshots responsive to receiptof the confirmation from the second data storage node and, for example,determination that a newer committed snapshot exists.

In one embodiment, the snapshot component is further configured togenerate a new snapshot of the data stored in the first data storagenode over time, for example, periodically. In one embodiment, thesnapshot component is further configured to generate the new snapshot ofthe data stored in the first data storage node every 10 milliseconds(ms).

In one embodiment, the interface is further configured to receive a readcommand. In one embodiment, the command processing component is furtherconfigured to read data stored in a second data storage node of theplurality of data storage nodes responsive to receiving the readcommand.

In one embodiment, the command processing component is configured toread the committed snapshot at least in part by identifying a seconddata storage node that stores data consistent with committed snapshotand reading from the identified second data storage node. In oneembodiment, the interface is further configured to receive a writecommit command. In one embodiment, the command processing component isfurther configured write data to the first data storage node, determinewhether a majority of the data storage nodes in the plurality of datastorage nodes have replicated the data written to the first data storagenode, and generate a write commit confirmation responsive to receipt ofthe write commit command. In one embodiment, the interface component isfurther configured to provide the write commit confirmation.

In one embodiment, the interface component is further configured toreceive a write command. In one embodiment, the command processingcomponent is further configured to write data to the first data storagenode responsive to receipt of the write command. In one embodiment, thesystem further includes a database including the plurality of datastorage nodes. In one embodiment, the database follows an eventualconsistency model. In one embodiment, the first data storage node is aprimary data storage node and a remainder of the data storage nodes ofthe plurality of data storage nodes are secondary data storage nodes. Inone embodiment, the first data storage node includes an operation logand a remainder of the data storage nodes of the plurality of datastorage nodes are configured to retrieve the operation log and replicateoperations in the operation log.

According to at least one aspect, a method of performing operations in acomputer database is provided. The method includes receiving, by aninterface component executed by at least one processor, a read commitcommand, generating, by a snapshot component executed by the at leastone processor, a plurality of snapshots of data stored in a first datastorage node of a plurality of data storage nodes and identify acommitted snapshot representative of data that has been replicated on amajority of the plurality of data storage nodes, reading, by a commandprocessing component executed by the at least one processor, thecommitted snapshot responsive to receipt of the read commit command,generating, by the command processing component, generate a result tothe read commit command, and providing, by the interface component, theresult.

In one embodiment, each snapshot of the plurality of snapshots on afirst storage node corresponds to the data stored in the first storagenode of the plurality of data storage nodes at unique point in time. Inone embodiment, the method further includes receiving a confirmationfrom a second data storage node of the plurality of data storage nodesthat the second data storage node has replicated data from the firstdata storage node. In one embodiment, the method further includesidentifying a new committed snapshot from the plurality of snapshotsresponsive to receipt of the confirmation from the second data storagenode. In one embodiment, the method further includes removing at leastone snapshot from the plurality of snapshots responsive to receipt ofthe confirmation from the second data storage node.

In one embodiment, the method further includes generating new snapshotsof the data stored in the first data storage node periodically. In oneembodiment, the method further includes generating the new snapshots ofthe data stored in the first data storage node includes generate the newsnapshots of the data stored in the first data storage node every 10milliseconds.

In one embodiment, the method further includes receiving a read command.In one embodiment, the method further includes reading data stored in asecond data storage node of the plurality of data storage nodesresponsive to receiving the read command.

In one embodiment, reading the committed snapshot includes identifying asecond data storage node that stores data consistent with committedsnapshot and reading from the identified second data storage node. Inone embodiment, the method further includes receiving a write commitcommand. In one embodiment, the method further includes writing data tothe first data storage node, determining whether a majority of the datastorage nodes in the plurality of data storage nodes have replicated thedata written to the first data storage node, and generating a writecommit confirmation responsive to receipt of the write commit command.In one embodiment, the method further includes providing the writecommit confirmation.

In one embodiment, the method further includes receiving a writecommand. In one embodiment, the method further includes writing data tothe first data storage node responsive to receipt of the write command.

In one embodiment, the plurality of data storage nodes are organized ina database. In one embodiment, the database follows an eventualconsistency model. In one embodiment, the first data storage node is aprimary data storage node and a remainder of the data storage nodes ofthe plurality of data storage nodes are secondary data storage nodes. Inone embodiment, the first data storage node includes an operation logand a remainder of the data storage nodes of the plurality of datastorage nodes are configured to retrieve the operation log and replicateoperations in the operation log.

According to at least one aspect, a non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising instructions consistent with any methods and/orcombination of methods described or claimed herein.

According to at least one aspect, a database system is provided. Thedatabase system includes a database comprising a plurality of datastorage nodes, the plurality of data storage nodes including a primarystorage node and a plurality of secondary storage nodes and at least oneprocessor configured to execute a plurality of system components. Theplurality of system components may include an interface componentconfigured to receive a read commit command and provide a result, asnapshot component configured to generate a plurality of snapshots ofdata stored in a secondary data storage node of the plurality ofsecondary storage nodes and identify a committed snapshot representativeof data that has been replicated on a majority of the plurality of datastorage nodes, and a command processing component configured to read thecommitted snapshot responsive to receipt of the read commit command andgenerate the result.

In one embodiment, the plurality of snapshots are stored in one or moreof the plurality of data storage nodes. For example, the plurality ofsnapshots may be stored in a primary data storage node and/or asecondary data storage node.

According to at least one aspect, a database system is provided. Thedatabase system comprises at least one processor configured to execute aplurality of system components. The plurality of system componentscomprises an interface component configured to receive a read commitcommand and provide a result; a snapshot component configured togenerate a plurality of snapshots of data stored in a first data storagenode of a plurality of data storage nodes and identify a committedsnapshot from the plurality of snapshots that is representative of datathat has been replicated on a majority of the plurality of data storagenodes; and a command processing component configured to read thecommitted snapshot responsive to receipt of the read commit command andgenerate the result using the committed snapshot.

In some embodiments, each snapshot of the plurality of snapshotscorresponds to data stored in the first storage node at a unique pointin time. In some embodiments, the interface component is furtherconfigured to receive at least one confirmation from at least one datastorage node of the plurality of data storage nodes that the at leastone data storage node has replicated data from the first data storagenode. In some embodiments, the snapshot component is further configuredto identify a new committed snapshot responsive to receipt of the atleast one confirmation from the at least one data storage node. In someembodiments, the snapshot component is further configured to remove atleast one snapshot from the plurality of snapshots responsive to receiptof the at least one confirmation from the at least one data storagenode.

In some embodiments, the snapshot component is further configured togenerate a new snapshot of the data stored in the first data storagenode periodically. In some embodiments, the snapshot component isfurther configured to generate the new snapshot of the data stored inthe first data storage node every 10 milliseconds.

In some embodiments, the interface is further configured to receive aread command. In some embodiments, the command processing component isfurther configured to read data stored in a second data storage node ofthe plurality of data storage nodes responsive to receiving the readcommand.

In some embodiments, the command processing component is configured toread the committed snapshot at least in part by identifying a datastorage node from the plurality of data storage nodes that stores dataconsistent with committed snapshot and reading from the identified datastorage node.

In some embodiments, the system further comprises a database includingthe plurality of data storage nodes and wherein the database follows aneventual consistency model. In some embodiments, the first data storagenode is a primary data storage node and a remainder of the data storagenodes of the plurality of data storage nodes are secondary data storagenodes. In some embodiments, the first data storage node includes anoperation log and a remainder of the data storage nodes of the pluralityof data storage nodes are configured to retrieve the operation log andreplicate operations in the operation log.

According to at least one aspect, a method of performing operations in acomputer database. The method comprises receiving, by an interfacecomponent executed by at least one processor, a read commit command;generating, by a snapshot component executed by the at least oneprocessor, a plurality of snapshots of data stored in a first datastorage node of a plurality of data storage nodes; identifying, by thesnapshot component executed by the at least one processor, a committedsnapshot from the plurality of snapshots that is representative of datathat has been replicated on a majority of the plurality of data storagenodes; reading, by a command processing component executed by the atleast one processor, the committed snapshot responsive to receipt of theread commit command; generating, by the command processing component, aresult to the read commit command using the committed snapshot; andproviding, by the interface component, the result.

In some embodiments, each snapshot of the plurality of snapshotscorresponds to the data stored in the first storage node of theplurality of data storage nodes at unique point in time. In someembodiments, the method further comprises receiving at least oneconfirmation from at least one data storage node of the plurality ofdata storage nodes that the at least one data storage node hasreplicated data from the first data storage node. In some embodiments,the method further comprises identifying a new committed snapshot fromthe plurality of snapshots responsive to receipt of the at least oneconfirmation from the at least one data storage node. In someembodiments, the method further comprises removing at least one snapshotfrom the plurality of snapshots responsive to receipt of the at leastone confirmation from the at least one data storage node.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating newsnapshots of the data stored in the first data storage nodeperiodically.

According to at least one aspect, a database system is provided. Thedatabase system comprises a database configured to follow an eventualconsistency model and comprising a primary data storage node storing anoperation log and a plurality of secondary data storage nodes configuredto retrieve the operation log from the primary data storage node andreplicate operations in the operation log; and at least one processorcoupled to the database and configured to execute a plurality of systemcomponents. The plurality of system components comprises an interfacecomponent configured to receive a read commit command and provide aresult; a snapshot component configured to generate a plurality ofsnapshots of data stored in the primary data storage node where eachsnapshot corresponds to data stored in the first storage node at aunique point in time and identify a committed snapshot from theplurality of snapshots that is representative of data that has beenreplicated on a majority of the plurality of secondary data storagenodes; and a command processing component configured to read thecommitted snapshot responsive to receipt of the read commit command andgenerate the result using the committed snapshot.

According to at least one aspect, a database system is provided. Thedatabase system comprises at least one processor configured to execute aplurality of system components, wherein the plurality of systemcomponents comprises an interface component configured to receive awrite commit command and provide a write commit confirmation; a snapshotcomponent configured to generate a plurality of snapshots of data storedin a first data storage node of a plurality of data storage nodes andidentify a first snapshot from the plurality of snapshots that isrepresentative of data that has been replicated on a majority of theplurality of data storage nodes as a committed snapshot; and a commandprocessing component configured to: determine whether the write commitcommand modifies at least one data element in the first data storagenode; and responsive to the write commit command modifying the at leastone data element in the first data storage node, modify the at least onedata element in the first data storage node based on the write commitcommand; determine whether the majority of the plurality of storagenodes have replicated the modification to the at least one data elementusing the committed snapshot; and generate the write commit confirmationresponsive to a determination that the majority of the plurality of datastorage nodes have replicated the modification to the at least one dataelement.

In some embodiments, the command processing component is furtherconfigured to generate the write commit confirmation responsive to thewrite commit command not modifying the at least one data element in thefirst data storage node. In some embodiments, the command processingcomponent is further to send a command to at least one data storage nodein the plurality of data storage nodes to replicate the modification ofthe at least one data element in the first data storage node responsiveto modifying the at least one data element in the first data storagenode.

In some embodiments, the interface component is further configured toreceive a confirmation from a second data storage node of the pluralityof data storage nodes that the second data storage node has replicatedthe modification to the at least one data element. In some embodiments,the snapshot component is further configured to identify a secondsnapshot from the plurality of snapshots as the committed snapshotresponsive to receipt of the confirmation from the second data storagenode. In some embodiments, the snapshot component is further to removethe first snapshot from the plurality of snapshots responsive toidentifying the second snapshot as the committed snapshot.

In some embodiments, the first data storage node stores an operation logcomprising a plurality of database operations performed on the firstdata storage node and wherein the command processing component isfurther configured to determine whether at least one entry in theoperation log has been replicated by the majority of data storage nodesin the plurality of data storage nodes using the committed snapshotresponsive to the write commit command not modifying the at least onedata element in the first data storage node. In some embodiments, thecommand processing component is further configured to generate the writecommit confirmation responsive to a determination that the majority ofthe plurality of data storage nodes replicated the at least one entry inthe operation log. In some embodiments, the at least one entry in theoperation log comprises a newest entry in the operation log thatoccurred before receipt of the write commit command.

In some embodiments, the interface component is further configured toreceive a write command and wherein the command processing component isfurther configured to write data to the first data storage noderesponsive to receipt of the write command.

In some embodiments, the system further comprises a database includingthe plurality of data storage nodes and wherein the database follows aneventual consistency model. In some embodiments, the first data storagenode is a primary data storage node and a remainder of the data storagenodes of the plurality of data storage nodes are secondary data storagenodes. In some embodiments, the first data storage node includes anoperation log and a remainder of the data storage nodes of the pluralityof data storage nodes are configured to retrieve the operation log andreplicate operations in the operation log.

According to at least one aspect, a method of performing operations in acomputer database is provided. The method comprises generating, by asnapshot component executed by at least one processor, a plurality ofsnapshots of data stored in a first data storage node of a plurality ofdata storage nodes; identifying, by the snapshot component executed bythe at least one processor, a first snapshot from the plurality ofsnapshots that is representative of data that has been replicated on amajority of the plurality of data storage nodes as a committed snapshot;receiving, by an interface component executed by the at least oneprocessor, a write commit command; determining, by a command processingcomponent executed by the at least one processor, whether the writecommit command modifies at least one data element in the first datastorage node; responsive to the write commit command modifying the atleast one data element in the first data storage node, modifying the atleast one data element in the first data storage node based on the writecommit command; determining whether the majority of the plurality ofstorage nodes have replicated the modification to the at least one dataelement using the committed snapshot; and generating a write commitconfirmation responsive to a determination that the majority of theplurality of data storage nodes have replicated the modification to theat least one data element; and providing, by the interface component,the write commit confirmation.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating the writecommit confirmation responsive to the write commit command not modifyingthe at least one data element in the first data storage node. In someembodiments, the method further comprises receiving a confirmation froma second data storage node of the plurality of data storage nodes thatthe second data storage node has replicated the modification to the atleast one data element. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises identifying a second snapshot from the plurality of snapshotsas the committed snapshot responsive to receipt of the confirmation fromthe second data storage node.

In some embodiments, the first data storage node stores an operation logcomprising a plurality of operations performed on the first data storagenode and wherein the method further comprises determining whether atleast one entry in the operation log has been replicated by the majorityof data storage nodes in the plurality of data storage nodes using thecommitted snapshot responsive to the write commit command not modifyingthe at least one data element in the first data storage node. In someembodiments, the method further comprises generating the write commitconfirmation responsive to a determination that the majority of theplurality of data storage nodes replicated the at least one entry in theoperation log.

According to at least one aspect, a database system is provided. Thedatabase system comprises a database configured to follow an eventualconsistency model and comprising a primary data storage node storing anoperation log and a plurality of secondary data storage nodes configuredto retrieve the operation log from the primary data storage node andreplicate operations in the operation log; and at least one processorconfigured to execute a plurality of system components. The plurality ofsystem components comprises an interface component configured to receivea write commit command and provide a write commit confirmation; asnapshot component configured to generate a plurality of snapshots ofdata stored in the primary data storage node, identify a first snapshotfrom the plurality of snapshots that is representative of data that hasbeen replicated on a majority of the plurality of secondary data storagenodes as a committed snapshot, and identify a second snapshot from theplurality of snapshots as the committed snapshot responsive to one ormore secondary data storages nodes replicating at least one operation inthe operation log; and a command processing component configured to:determine whether the write commit command modifies at least onedocument in a primary data storage node; and responsive to the writecommit command modifying the at least one document in the primary datastorage node, modify the at least one document in the primary datastorage node; determine whether the majority of the secondary storagenodes have replicated the modification to the at least one document inthe primary data storage node using the committed snapshot; and generatethe write commit confirmation responsive to a determination that themajority of the secondary storage nodes replicated the modification tothe at least one document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of at least one embodiment are discussed herein withreference to the accompanying figures, which are not intended to bedrawn to scale. The figures are included to provide illustration and afurther understanding of the various aspects and embodiments, and areincorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, but are notintended as a definition of the limits of the invention. Where technicalfeatures in the figures, detailed description or any claim are followedby references signs, the reference signs have been included for the solepurpose of increasing the intelligibility of the figures, detaileddescription, and/or claims. Accordingly, neither the reference signs northeir absence are intended to have any limiting effect on the scope ofany claim elements. In the figures, each identical or nearly identicalcomponent that is illustrated in various figures is represented by alike numeral. For purposes of clarity, not every component may belabeled in every figure. In the figures:

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example commit engineconfigured to process read and write commit commands, according to someembodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example distributed databasesystem, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an example replica set hosting adistributed database, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of another example distributeddatabase system, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example snapshot generation process,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example snapshot commit process,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example read commit process, accordingto some embodiments;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are flowcharts showing example write commit processes,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example special-purpose computer system,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example disk or flash memory, accordingto some embodiments;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example a distributed system, accordingto some embodiments;

FIG. 12 is a state diagram showing the generation and maintenance ofsnapshots, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 13 is a table showing the relationship between the snapshot viewand the operation log view of data, according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to one aspect, systems and methods are provided for readingand writing committed data in a database. In some embodiments, thedatabase may follow an eventual consistency model and committed data maybe data that has been replicated by more than a predetermined number ofsecondary nodes (e.g., half the secondary nodes) in the database. Inthese embodiments, data may be replicated from a primary node in thedatabase to secondary nodes in the database over time, and the databasemay contain many groups of primary and secondary nodes. Thereby, one ormore of the secondary nodes may have data that is not completelyup-to-date relative to a respective primary node. Further, a clientsending a read request to the database may receive data from a secondarynode that is not completely up-to-date. The systems, as described hereinaccording to some embodiments, provide clients an ability to read onlycommitted from the database. The term “read commit” may refer to thecommand to read committed data from the database. For example, users mayprovide command line or execution instructions to read only committeddata. Thereby, the system provides the client a view of the data that isbeing provided by a majority of the secondary nodes in response to readrequests. Further, the systems may provide clients an ability to writedata to the database and receive a confirmation once the data isreplicated on a sufficient number of nodes in the database so as to becommitted. The term “write commit” may refer to such a command.

In some embodiments, the system may monitor the latest data that hasbeen committed to the database through the generation and management ofsnapshots. Snapshots may be captured periodically (or aperiodically) andbe representative of the state of the data in the database at aparticular point in time. The system may identify a committed snapshotthat is representative of committed data (e.g., replicated by athreshold number of nodes (e.g., majority of nodes)). These snapshotsmay advantageously simplify processing of read commit and/or writecommit commands. For example, read commit commands may be processed bysimply reading from the committed snapshot. Similarly, write commitcommands may be performed by determining whether the operation(s)included in the write commit command is included in the committedsnapshot and returning a confirmation one the operation(s) are includedin the committed snapshot.

Examples of the methods, devices, and systems discussed herein are notlimited in application to the details of construction and thearrangement of components set forth in the following description orillustrated in the accompanying drawings. The methods and systems arecapable of implementation in other embodiments and of being practiced orof being carried out in various ways. Examples of specificimplementations are provided herein for illustrative purposes only andare not intended to be limiting. In particular, acts, components,elements and features discussed in connection with any one or moreexamples are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in anyother examples.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. Any references toexamples, embodiments, components, elements or acts of the systems andmethods herein referred to in the singular may also embrace embodimentsincluding a plurality, and any references in plural to any embodiment,component, element or act herein may also embrace embodiments includingonly a singularity. References in the singular or plural form are notintended to limit the presently disclosed systems or methods, theircomponents, acts, or elements. The use herein of “including,”“comprising,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and variationsthereof is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter andequivalents thereof as well as additional items. References to “or” maybe construed as inclusive so that any terms described using “or” mayindicate any of a single, more than one, and all of the described terms.

Example Database Commit Engine

FIG. 1 shows an example commit engine 102 according to some embodiments.The commit engine 102 may be designed to process various receivedcommands on a database 108. In some embodiments, the database 108 mayinclude a plurality of nodes and replicate data from primary node to oneor more secondary nodes. The primary and respective secondary nodes areconfigured to host at least a portion of the database data, and otherreplica sets (e.g., primary and respective secondary nodes) can hostother portions. In these embodiments, the primary node may handlecommands that change the data stored in the database and the secondarynodes may replicate the data in the primary node over time and processread requests. Thereby, the secondary nodes may have data that is notcompletely up-to-date relative to the primary nodes. Committed data mayinclude data that has been replicated to at least a predetermined numberof secondary nodes in the database (e.g., at least half of the secondarynodes).

In some embodiments, the commit engine 102 receives and processes readcommit commands 104 and/or write commit commands 106. The commit engine102 may process a read commit command 104 by identifying committed datain the database 108, processing a read request on the identifiedcommitted data, and providing the results as committed data 110. Thecommit engine 102 may process a write commit command 106 by writing datato the database 108 and providing a write commit confirmation 112 oncethe changes in the write to the database 108 have been committed.

As shown in FIG. 1, the commit engine 102 includes an interfacecomponent 114. The interface component 114 may be configured to receiveand provide data to various systems, such as the database 108. In someembodiments, the interface component 114 receives the read commitcommand 104 and provides the committed data 110 once the read commitcommand 104 has been processed by the commit engine 102. The interfacecomponent 114 may also receive the write commit command 106 and providethe write commit confirmation 112 once the write commit command 106 hasbeen processed by the commit engine 102.

The commit engine 102 may include a snapshot component 116 to generatesnapshots of data in the database 108. The snapshots are illustrative ofthe data in the database 108 at a particular point in time (e.g., aunique point in time) on a logical clock. For example, the snapshotcomponent 116 may generate a snapshot of the database 108 every 10milliseconds (ms) and each snapshot may be representative of the data inthe database 108 at the time the snapshot was taken. For example, thesnapshots may be indicative of the data in a primary node and/or asecondary node or any replica set at a particular point in time.Thereby, the snapshots generated by the snapshot component 116 mayprovide a different view of the data in the database 108 thatillustrates changes over time, and/or from node to node.

It should be appreciated that the snapshots may be captured at uniquepoints in time on both a logical clock and a physical clock in caseswhere the time difference between the captured snapshots is larger thanthe resolution of the physical clock. For example, the snapshots may becaptured every 10 ms and the resolution of the physical clock may be 1ms. In this example, each of the snapshots may be generated at both aunique point in time on a logical clock and a unique point in time onthe physical clock.

As described above, secondary nodes in the database 108 may include datathat is not completely up-to-date relative to the primary node. Thereby,there is generally a delay between changes being made to the primarynode and the changes being replicated in a requisite number of secondarynodes so as to be committed to the database 108. In some embodiments,the snapshot component 116 may identify a committed snapshot from thegenerated snapshots. In one example, the commit engine evaluates changesin state within the snapshots to determine if replication has occurredto a threshold number of nodes, if so the snapshot can be identified orlabelled as a committed snapshot. In another example, a snapshot is onlyupdated to include new data once the new data has been committed. Thus,in one implementation committed snapshots are only updated to includecommitted data.

A committed snapshot may be a latest snapshot of the database 108 thatis representative of only committed data. Stated differently, thecommitted snapshot may be the most recent snapshot that only containscommitted data. Further, the snapshot component 116 may update thesnapshot that is the committed snapshot as the secondary nodes replicatechanges made to the primary node. For example, the latest changes to theprimary node that have been committed may be the changes made up to12:30 pm on May 6, 2016. Subsequently, the secondary nodes may replicatedata from the primary node and move the commit forward from 12:30 pm onMay 6, 2016 to 2:00 pm on May 6, 2016. The snapshot component 116 may,in response, select a more recent snapshot as the committed snapshot andremove any snapshots that are older than the new committed snapshot.Thereby, the snapshot component 116 updates which snapshot is thecommitted snapshot in tandem with the secondary nodes in the database108 replicating the data from the primary node.

The read commit commands 104 may be processed by a command processingcomponent 118 of the commit engine 102. In some embodiments, the commandprocessing component 118 may process read commit commands 104 by readingdata from the committed snapshot generated and identified by thesnapshot component 116. The particular method employed by the commandprocessing component 118 to read from the committed snapshot may varydepending upon the particular implementation of the snapshot. Forexample, the snapshot may be a copy of the data and the commandprocessing component 118 may read directly from the snapshot. In otherexamples, the snapshots may only be representative of operations made onthe database to obtain data in the same state as the data in thedatabase 108 at the time of the snapshot. In these examples, the commandprocessing component 118 may identify a secondary node in the database108 that has data stored in the same state as the committed snapshot andread from that secondary node. In some embodiments, each node maymaintain a respective snapshot and reads can be distributed to secondarynodes based on respective snapshot information. It should be appreciatedthat the command processing component 118 may identify a secondary nodein the database 108 that has data that deviates from the committedsnapshot so long as the data relevant to the read request (e.g., theportion of the data being read) is in the same state as the committedsnapshot. The results from the read performed by the command processingcomponent 118 may be provided as the committed data 110 via theinterface component 114.

The write commit commands 106 may also be processed by the commandprocessing component 118. In some embodiments, the command processingcomponent 118 may process the write commit commands 106 by writing thedata to the primary node of the database 108 and waiting for a requisitenumber of secondary nodes (e.g., at least half of the secondary nodes)to have replicated the changes written to the primary node. The commandprocessing component 118 may, in some implementations, expedite theprocess of replicating the changes by, for example, communicating withthe secondary nodes to trigger replication of the changes. Once thechanges have been replicated to a sufficient number of secondary nodes,the command processing component 118 may generate the write commitconfirmation 112 that may be provided via the interface component 114.

It should be appreciated that, in some embodiments, the commit engine102 may also be able to process regular read and/or write commands inaddition to the read commit command 104 and the write commit command106. For example, the command processing component 118 may read datafrom a secondary node in the database 108 and provide the result via theinterface component 114 responsive to receipt of a read command.Similarly, the command processing component 118 may write data to aprimary node in the database 108 in response to receipt of the writecommand.

Example Database Systems

An example of a database subsystem 200 is shown in FIG. 2. The databasesubsystem 200 includes an interface 202 for sending and receivinginformation (including database requests and responses thereto) torouter processes, database clients, or other components or entities inthe system. In one embodiment, the backend architecture is configured tointeract with any data model provided by a managed database. Forexample, the managed database can include a non-relational data model.In another embodiment, the data model can be implemented in the form ofreplica sets as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/977,563, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.The database subsystem 200 includes a storage application. In oneimplementation described in greater detail below, a base unit of data isa document.

In some embodiments, a storage application programming interface (API)208 receives database requests, including requests to perform read andwrite operations. When a write operation is requested, the storage API208 in response selectively triggers a first storage engine 204 or asecond storage engine 206 configured to store data in a first dataformat or second data format, respectively, in node 210. As discussed inmore detail below, a database monitor 211 may track a number ofanalytics about the database. In some embodiments, the database monitor211 is configured to track the operations performed on the data overtime, and stores that information as analytics data 213. In someexamples, analytic data may be stored in a separate database. In otherexamples, the analytics data is stored as a name collection (i.e., alogical grouping of data). These analytics may be provided to thestorage API 208, which relies on the analytics to selectively actuate anappropriate storage engine. In further embodiments, although multiplestorage engines are provided, not all storage engines may operate withsnapshots and/or not all storage engines may provide read commit (and/orwrite commit) functionality. Responsive to a command execution thatincludes read commit settings, the system may force use of a particularstorage engine or alternatively provide error information that thecurrent storage engine does not support the functionality. Thus, thesystem can be configured to check capability of storage engines tosupport read commit (and/or write commit) functions and report on thesame to end users.

In one example, the database monitor 211 tracks the relative number ofread and write operations performed on a collection within the database.In another example, the database monitor 211 is configured to track anyoperations (e.g., reads, writes, etc.) performed on any base unit ofdata (e.g., documents) in the database.

In some embodiments, the storage API 208 uses the tracked data (e.g.,analytics data) collected by the database monitor 211 and/or theanalytics data 213 to select an optimal storage engine for a database, acollection, or a document having the observed read/write ratio. In oneexample, the storage API 208 is mapped to the selected storage engine.For example, an identifier of the selected storage engine may be storedin a location in memory or on disk; when a write operation request isreceived by the storage API 208, the identifier is used to identify andactivate the storage engine. Alternatively, elements of the database canspecify a mapping or association with a storage engine that can bemanually edited, edited through an administrative interface, orautomatically changed responsive to system monitoring. In otherembodiments, the database monitor 211 itself is configured to determinean optimal storage engine based on the analytics data 213 and otheraspects of the data, for example, stored in the database, databasecollection, or in a document. This determination may be passed to thestorage API 208, or otherwise used to map the storage API 208 to adetermined storage engine.

The storage API 208 receives database write requests (e.g., from adatabase API (not shown)) via a network interface 202, and carries outthe requested operations by selectively triggering one of the firststorage engine 204 and the second storage engine 206. The first storageengine 204 and the second storage engine 206 are executable softwaremodules configured to store database data in the data node 210 in aparticular data format. For example, the first storage engine 204 may beconfigured to store data in a row-store format, and the second storageengine 206 may be configured to store data in a LSM-tree format. In oneexample, the first storage engine 204 and/or the second storage engine206 are configured store primary database data (i.e., the data beingstored and queried) in a particular data format in the primary datamemory 212, and may store database index data in a particular dataformat in index data memory 214. In one embodiment, the first storageengine 204 and/or the second storage engine 206 are configured store anoperation log (referred to as an “oplog”) 216 in a particular dataformat. As discussed in more detail below, a database monitor 211 maytrack a number of analytics about the database, and the operationsperformed on it over time, and stores that information as analytics data213.

One advantage of using the storage API 208 as an abstraction layerbetween the database API and the storage engines is that the identityand selection of a particular storage engine can be transparent to thedatabase API and/or a user interacting with the database API. Forexample, the database API may pass a “write” function call to thestorage API 208 instructing the storage API to write a particular set ofdata to the database. The storage API 108 then determines, according toits own analysis and/or user input, which storage engine should performthe write operation. Different storage engines may be appropriate fordifferent types of data stored in different collections that may undergoa variety of different operations. Thus, the choice and implementationof calls to an appropriate storage engine are made by the API 208,freeing the database API calls to simply request a “write” of certaindata. This abstraction level allows for the implementation of the systemon large filesystems that may be stored across machines in a databasecluster, such as the Hadoop Filesystem offered by the Apache SoftwareFoundation.

Another advantage of using the storage API 208 is the ability to add,remove, or modify storage engines without modifying the requests beingpassed to the API 208. The storage API 208 is configured to identify theavailable storage engines and select the appropriate one based on one ormore factors discussed below. The database API requesting writeoperations need not know the particulars of the storage engine selectionor operation, meaning that storage engines may be embodied in pluggablemodules that may be swapped out or modified. Thus, users are able toleverage the same query language, data model, scaling, security andoperational tooling across different applications, each powered bydifferent pluggable storage engines.

The embodiment shown and discussed with respect to FIG. 2 depicts asingle database node 210. Yet in some embodiments, multiple databasenodes may be provided and arranged in a replica set. FIG. 3 shows ablock diagram of an exemplary replica set 300. Replica set 300 includesa primary node 302 and one or more secondary nodes 308 and 310, each ofwhich is configured to store a dataset that has been inserted into thedatabase. The primary node 302 may be configured to store all of thedocuments currently in the database, and may be considered and treatedas the authoritative version of the database in the event that anyconflicts or discrepancies arise, as will be discussed in more detailbelow. While two secondary nodes 308, 310 are depicted for illustrativepurposes, any number of secondary nodes may be employed, depending oncost, complexity, and data availability requirements. In a preferredembodiment, one replica set may be implemented on a single server. Inother embodiments, the nodes of the replica set may be spread among twoor more servers.

The primary node 302 and secondary nodes 308, 310 may be configured tostore data in any number of database formats or data structures as areknown in the art. In a preferred embodiment, the primary node 302 isconfigured to store documents or other structures associated withnon-relational databases. The embodiments discussed herein relate todocuments of a document-based database, such as those offered byMongoDB, Inc. (of New York, N.Y. and Palo Alto, Calif.), but other datastructures and arrangements are within the scope of the disclosure aswell.

In some embodiments, the replica set primary node 302 only accepts writerequests (disallowing read requests) from client systems 304, 306 andthe secondary nodes 308, 310 only accept reads requests (disallowingwrite requests) from client systems 304, 306. In such embodiments, theprimary node 302 receives and processes write requests against thedatabase, and replicates the operation/transaction asynchronouslythroughout the system to the secondary nodes 308, 310. In one example,the primary node 302 receives and performs client write operations andgenerates an oplog. Each logged operation is replicated to, and carriedout by, each of the secondary nodes 308, 310, thereby bringing thosesecondary nodes into synchronization with the primary node 302. In someembodiments, the secondary nodes 308, 310 may query the primary node 302to receive the operation log and identify operations that need to bereplicated. In other embodiments, the operation log may be transmittedfrom the primary node 302 to the secondary nodes 308, 310 periodicallyor in response to the occurrence of a predefined condition, such asaccruing a threshold number of operations in the operation log that havenot yet been sent to the secondary nodes 308, 310. Other implementationscan be configured to provide different levels of consistency, and, forexample, by restricting read requests. According to one embodiment, readrequests can be restricted to systems having up to date data, readrequests can also in some settings be restricted to primary systems,among other options.

In some embodiments, both read operations may be permitted at any node(including primary node 302 or secondary nodes 308, 310) and writeoperations limited to primary nodes in response to requests fromclients. The scalability of read operations can be achieved by addingnodes and database instances. In some embodiments, the primary node 302and/or the secondary nodes 308, 310 are configured to respond to readoperation requests by either performing the read operation at that nodeor by delegating the read request operation to another node (e.g., aparticular secondary node 308). Such delegation may be performed basedon load-balancing and traffic direction techniques. In otherembodiments, read distribution can be managed based on a respectivesnapshot available at various nodes within a distributed database. Forexample, the system can determine based on analyzing client requesteddata what snapshot is associated with the requested data and what nodehosts the respective data or snapshot that can be used to provide therequested data. In one example, a data routing processor accessesconfiguration files for respective replica sets to determine what nodecan respond to a data request, and further analysis of respectivesnapshots can determine, for example, what node within a replica setneeds to be accessed.

In some embodiments, the primary node 302 and the secondary nodes 308,310 may operate together to form a replica set 300 that achieveseventual consistency, meaning that replication of database changes tothe secondary nodes 308, 310 may occur asynchronously. When writeoperations cease, all replica nodes of a database will eventually“converge,” or become consistent. The eventually consistent modelprovides for a loose form of consistency. In one particular example,(assuming >3 secondary nodes) client systems (e.g. 304, 306) requestwrite operations: W(x=3); W(x=7); W(x=5). As the replication of thewrite requests occurs asynchronously, at some point all of the secondarynodes (e.g. 308, 310) will respond to a read request with 5. However, inthe short term (during replication operations) client systems randomlyreading from secondary nodes can see [read operations designated by R(variable and actual value)]: R(x==7); R(x==0); R(x==5); and R(x==3). Insuch a configuration, replica set 300 provides eventual consistency andcan permit out of order reads (in the short term). Other exampleimplementations can increase the strength of consistency, and forexample, can include monotonic read consistency (no out of order reads).Eventual consistency may be a desirable feature where high availabilityis important, such that locking records while an update is stored andpropagated is not an option. In such embodiments, the secondary nodes308, 310 may handle the bulk of the read operations made on the replicaset 300, whereas the primary node 308, 310 handles the write operations.For read operations where a high level of accuracy is important (such asthe operations involved in creating a secondary node), read operationsmay be performed against the primary node 302. In some embodiments,replica set 300 can be configured to perform according to a singlewriter eventually consistent model.

It will be appreciated that the difference between the primary node 302and the one or more secondary nodes 308, 310 in a given replica set maybe largely the designation itself and the resulting behavior of thenode; the data, functionality, and configuration associated with thenodes may be largely identical, or capable of being identical (e.g.,secondary nodes can be elevated to primary nodes in the event offailure). Thus, when one or more nodes within a replica set 300 fail orotherwise become available for read and/or write operations, other nodesmay change roles to address the failure. For example, if the primarynode 302 were to fail, a secondary node 308 may assume theresponsibilities of the primary node, allowing operation of the replicaset to continue through the outage. This failover functionality isdescribed in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/977,563, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Each node in the replica set 300 may be implemented on one or moreserver systems. Additionally, one server system can host more than onenode. Each server can be connected via a communication device to anetwork, for example the Internet, and each server can be configured toprovide a heartbeat signal notifying the system that the server is upand reachable on the network. Sets of nodes and/or servers can beconfigured across wide area networks, local area networks, intranets,and can span various combinations of wide area, local area and/orprivate networks. Various communication architectures are contemplatedfor the sets of servers that host database instances and can includedistributed computing architectures, peer networks, virtual systems,among other options.

The primary node 302 may be connected by a LAN, a WAN, or otherconnection to one or more of the secondary nodes 308, 310, which in turnmay be connected to one or more other secondary nodes in the replica set300. Connections between secondary nodes 308, 310 may allow thedifferent secondary nodes to communicate with each other, for example,in the event that the primary node 302 fails or becomes unavailable anda secondary node must assume the role of the primary node.

According to one embodiment, a plurality of nodes (e.g., primary nodesand/or secondary nodes) can be organized in groups of nodes in whichdata is stored and replicated across the nodes of the set. Each groupcan be configured as a replica set. In another embodiment, one or morenodes are established as primary nodes that host a writable copy of thedatabase. Each primary node can be responsible for a portion of thedatabase, e.g. a database shard. Database sharding breaks up sections ofthe database into smaller portions based on, for example, ranges of thedata. In some implementations, database sharding facilitates scaling aprimary-secondary architecture over a large number of nodes and/or largedatabase implementations. In one embodiment, each database shard has oneprimary node which replicates its data to its secondary nodes. Databaseshards can employ location preferences. For example, in a database thatincludes user records, the majority of accesses can come from specificlocations. Migrating a shard primary node to be proximate to thoserequests can improve efficiency and response time. For example, if ashard for user profile includes address information, shards can be basedon ranges within the user profiles, including address information. Ifthe nodes hosting the shard and/or the shard primary node are locatedproximate to those addresses, improved efficiency can result, as one mayobserve the majority of requests for that information to come fromlocations proximate to the addresses within the shard.

An example of a database subsystem 400 incorporating a replica set 410is shown in FIG. 4. As can be seen, database subsystem 400 incorporatesmany of the elements of database subsystem 200 of FIG. 2 including thenetwork interface 202, the storage engines 204, 206, the storage API208, the database monitor 211, and the analytics database 212. Relativeto the database subsystem 200 shown in FIG. 2, the database subsystem400 replaces the single node 210 with a replica set 410 comprisingprimary node 420 and secondary nodes 430 and 440. In one example, thereplica set 410 functions in much the same manner as the replica set 300discussed with respect to FIG. 3. While only two secondary nodes 430 and440 are shown for illustrative purposes, it will be appreciated that thenumber of secondary nodes may be scaled up or down as desired ornecessary.

In one example, database operation requests directed to the replica set410 may be processed by the primary node 420 and either performed by theprimary node 420 or directed to a secondary node 430, 440 asappropriate. In one embodiment, both read and write operations arepermitted at any node (including primary node 420 or secondary nodes430, 440) in response to requests from clients. The scalability of readoperations can be achieved by adding nodes and database instances. Insome embodiments, the primary node 420 and/or the secondary nodes 430,440 are configured to respond to read operation requests by eitherperforming the read operation at that node or by delegating the readrequest operation to another node (e.g., a particular secondary node430). Such delegation may be performed based on various load-balancingand traffic direction techniques.

In some embodiments, the database only allows write operations to beperformed at the primary node 420, with the secondary nodes 430, 440disallowing write operations. In such embodiments, the primary node 420receives and processes write requests against the database, andreplicates the operation/transaction asynchronously throughout thesystem to the secondary nodes 430, 440. In one example, the primary node420 receives and performs client write operations and generates anoplog. Each logged operation is replicated to, and carried out by, eachof the secondary nodes 430, 440, thereby bringing those secondary nodesinto synchronization with the primary node 420 under aneventual-consistency model.

In one example, primary database data (i.e., the data being stored andqueried) may be stored by one or more data storage engines in one ormore data formats in the primary data memory 422, 432, 442 of nodes 420,430, 440, respectively. Database index data may be stored by one or moredata storage engines in one or more data formats in the index datamemory 424, 434, 444 of nodes 420, 430, 440, respectively. Oplog datamay be stored by a data storage engine in a data format in oplog datamemory 426 of node 420.

Example Methods for Processing Read/Write Commit Commands

As discussed above, various systems may be configured to process readcommit commands. The processing of these commands may be facilitated bythe generation of snapshots of the database at different points in timeon a logical clock. FIG. 5 shows an example snapshot generation process500 according to some embodiments. The snapshot generation process 500may be performed by a system (e.g., snapshot component 116 shown inFIG. 1) to generate snapshots of the data in the database that may beused to facilitate execution of read commit requests. In someembodiments, one or more storage nodes in a database may generatesnapshots. For example, all of the storage nodes in a database maygenerate snapshots. Further, the storage nodes may generate snapshots oftheir own data (e.g., data in the respective storage node) and/orsnapshots of data in another storage node (e.g., data in a primarystorage node). As shown in FIG. 5, the snapshot generation process 500includes an act 502 of determining whether it is time to take asnapshot, an act 504 of determining whether a snapshot limit has beenreached, and an act 506 of taking a snapshot.

In act 502, the system determines whether it is time to take a snapshot.The system may make the determination as to whether it is appropriate totake a snapshot based on a predetermined policy. For example, the systemmay periodically or aperiodically capture snapshots of the data. Inother examples, the system may change the timing of taking snapshotsbased on client interaction with the database. For example, the systemmay take snapshots every 10 milliseconds during time periods where thedatabase is receiving change requests and pause snapshot generationduring periods where no changes to the database are taking place.Thereby, the system may reduce the number of snapshots being taken andstored by avoiding multiple successive snapshots that do not include anychanges to the database. If the system determines that it is anappropriate time to take a snapshot, the system proceeds to act 504 todetermine whether a snapshot limit has been reached. Otherwise thesnapshot generation process 500 ends.

In act 504, the system determines whether a snapshot limit has beenreached. The system may have a predefined maximum number of snapshotsthat can be maintained at any given time. For example, the system mayhave a maximum number of snapshots of 10,000. If the snapshot limit hasbeen reached, then process 500 ends. Otherwise, the system proceeds toact 506 and takes a snapshot.

FIG. 6 shows an example snapshot commit process 600. A system (e.g.,snapshot component 116 shown in FIG. 1) may perform the snapshot commitprocess 600 to continually update which snapshot is the latest committedsnapshot and purge older snapshots. In some embodiments, one or more ofthe storage nodes that generate snapshots may perform process 600 toidentify a committed snapshot. For example, all of the storage nodes mayidentify a committed snapshot. As shown in FIG. 6, the snapshot commitprocess 600 includes an act 602 of receiving confirmation from asecondary node, an act 604 of determining whether there is a new commitpoint in the operation log, an act 606 of determining whether to advancethe committed snapshot, an act 608 of advancing the committed snapshot,and an act 610 of removing old snapshot(s).

In act 602, the system receives confirmation from a secondary node. Theconfirmation from the secondary node may indicate that a particularsecondary node has performed various actions consistent with theoperation log to make the data in that secondary node more up-to-date.The secondary node may provide the confirmation without explicitinstructions from a primary node.

In act 604, the system determines whether there is a new commit point inthe operation log. The system may determine whether there is a newcommit point in the operation log by, for example, identifying thelatest operation in the operation log that at least 50% of the secondarynodes have replicated. If the latest operation in the operation log ismore up-to-date than the previous commit point, the commit point in theoperation log advances. If the commit point in the operation logadvances, the system proceeds to act 606 to determine whether theadvance the committed snapshot. Otherwise the snapshot commit process600 ends.

In act 606, the system determines whether to advance the committedsnapshot based on the change in the commit point in the operation log.The system may determine whether to advance the committed snapshot bydetermining whether there is a more recent snapshot that only capturescommitted operations in the operation log. For example, the advance inthe commit point in the operation log may be very small (e.g., 2operations). In this example, the system may determine not to advancethe snapshot by determining that the most recent snapshot that does notinclude any uncommitted operations (e.g., operations after the commitpoint in the operation log) is the same snapshot that has already beencommitted. In another example, the advance in the commit point in theoperation log may be very large (e.g., 30 operations). In this example,the system may determine to advance the snapshot by determining that themost recent snapshot that does not include any uncommitted operations isthe 10^(th) snapshot after the previously committed snapshot. If thesystem determines that is appropriate to advance the committed snapshot,the system proceeds to act 608 and advances the committed snapshot(e.g., to the 10^(th) snapshot). Otherwise the snapshot commit process600 ends.

In act 608, the system advances the committed snapshot. The system mayadvance the committed snapshot by flagging or otherwise marking theidentified snapshot as the committed snapshot.

In act 610, the system removes old snapshots. The old snapshots that maybe removed may be the snapshots that are older than the new committedsnapshot. For example, a previous committed snapshot may be removed.

As discussed above, various processes may be performed by the system togenerate and maintain the snapshots. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing thegeneration and maintenance of snapshots. A first collection of snapshots1202 is shown in the top left section of the diagram. The firstcollection of snapshots 1202 includes a committed snapshot illustratedin bold (Snapshot_5-10-15_1000). A new snapshot (Snapshot_5-10-15_1011)is added to the first collection of snapshots 1202 to form a secondcollection of snapshots 1204. The committed snapshot in the secondcollection of snapshots 1204 is advanced (now Snapshot_5-10-15_1002) toform the third collection of snapshots 1206. The committed snapshot mayadvance responsive to a sufficient number of secondary nodes replicatingthe data in the new committed snapshot. The snapshots that are olderthan the new committed snapshot (Snapshot_5-10-15_1002) are removed fromthe third collection of snapshots 1206 to form the fourth collection ofsnapshots 1208. These old snapshots may be removed to limit the numberof snapshots that need to be stored at any given time.

Each of the snapshots in the various snapshot collections may berepresentative of data stored at various points in time that maycorrespond to one or more actions in the operation log. Thereby, thesnapshots create a new view of the data in the database that illustrateschanges over discrete chunks of time as opposed to changes overoperations performed (as shown by the operation log). FIG. 13 is a tableshowing the relationship between the snapshot view 1302 and theoperation log view 1304 of data. As shown, the snapshot view 1302includes three snapshots (Snapshot_5-10-15_1000, Snapshot_5-10-15_1001,and Snapshot_5-10-15_1002) ordered from oldest (at the top) to newest(at the bottom). Each of the three snapshots were taken at differentpoints in time on a database receiving a sequence of write requestsshown in the operation log view 1304. The requests are ordered from theoldest (at the top) to the newest (at the bottom). Each of the threesnapshots corresponds to a specific point in time in the operation logand, thereby, a portion of the operation log. For example,Snapshot_5-10-15_1000 was taken just after the “Create VEGETABLEcollection” operation was performed. Thereby, the data in the databaseat the time Snapshot_5-10-15_1000 was taken may be recreated byperforming the “Create VEGETABLE collection” operation. The secondsnapshot (Snapshot_5-10-15_1001) was taken just after the “InsertBROCCOLI into VEGETABLE collection” operation was performed. Thereby,the data in the database at the time Snapshot_5-10-15_1001 was taken maybe replicated by performing all of the operations prior to (andincluding) the “Insert BROCCOLI into VEGETABLE collection” operation.The third snapshot (Snapshot_5-10-15_1002) was taken just after the“Insert TOMATO into FRUIT collection” operation was performed. Thereby,the data in the database at the time Snapshot_5-10-15_1002 was taken maybe replicated by performing all of the operations prior to (andincluding) the “Insert TOMATO into FRUIT collection” operation.

As shown in FIG. 13, a particular snapshot may be associated with morethan one operations relative to the previous snapshot. For example, thethird snapshot (Snapshot_5-10-15_1002) is associated with fouradditional operations relative to the second snapshot(Snapshot_5-10-15_1001). Further, operations may be performed after thelatest snapshot (Snapshot_5-10-15_1002) has been taken as shown by thelast two operations in the operation log view 1304. These two operationsmay be captured in the next snapshot to be captured (e.g.,Snapshot_5-10-15_1003).

As discussed above, the generation and maintenance of snapshots mayfacilitate the system to process read commit commands. FIG. 7 shows anexample read commit process 700 that leverages the generated snapshots.The read commit process 700 may be performed by a system (e.g., acommand processing component 118) to process read commit commandsreceived from, for example, client. In some embodiments, a storage node(e.g., a primary or secondary storage node) that receives a read commitrequest may perform the read commit process 700. As shown in FIG. 7, theread commit process 700 includes an act 702 of receiving a read commitcommand, an act 704 of identifying the latest committed snapshot, an act706 of reading from the latest committed snapshot, and an act 708 ofreturning the read results.

In some embodiments, read requests are permitted against uncommitteddata by default. In one example, if no read commit parameter isspecified in a data command, the system is configured to process againstany available node and data. Whereas, if a read commit parameter isspecified the system is configured to perform a read commit process,such as read commit process 700. For example, the system may determinewhere to access and return committed data.

In act 702, the system receives a read commit command. The read commitcommand may identify, for example, particular collections or documentsthat should be read.

In act 704, the system identifies the latest committed snapshot. Thelatest snapshot may be flagged or otherwise marked by, for example, thesnapshot advance process 600 described above with reference to FIG. 6.

In act 706, the system reads from the latest committed snapshot. Itshould be appreciated that the particular method employed to read fromthe latest committed snapshot may vary depending upon the particularimplementation of the snapshot employed. For example, the snapshot maynot include data from the database but rather include a set ofoperations that have been performed (e.g., a section of the operationlog). In this example the system may identify an appropriate secondarynode to read that has the relevant data to be read in the same state asthe committed snapshot. In other examples, the snapshot may store a copyof the data in the database. The snapshot may be stored in, for example,the primary storage node and/or any combination of one or more storagenodes. In these examples the system may directly read from the latestcommitted snapshot. In act 708, the system returns the data from thecommitted snapshot.

As discussed above, the generation and maintenance of snapshots mayfacilitate the system to process write commit commands. FIG. 8Aillustrates an example write commit process 800A. The write commitprocess 800A described an example set of acts that may be performed by asystem (e.g., command processing component 118 shown in FIG. 1) when awrite commit command is received. In some embodiments, the write commitprocess 800A may be performed by, for example, a storage node thatreceives a write commit command (such as a primary storage node). Itshould be appreciated that, in some database models, only one datastorage node (e.g., the primary storage node) may receive write and/orwrite commit requests. As shown in FIG. 8A, the process 800A includesthe acts of: receiving a write commit command 802, determining whether adocument is being modified 804, returning a write commit confirmation806, writing data 808, and determining whether the write was committed810.

In some embodiments, write requests (without a confirmation) arepermitted by default (sometimes called “fire and forget writerequests”). In one example, if no write commit parameter is specified ina data command, the system is configured to process the write command asa write request and not issue a confirmation once the write iscommitted. Whereas, if a write commit parameter is specified the systemmay be configured to perform a write commit process, such as writecommit process 800A.

In act 802, the system receives a write commit command. The write commitcommand may include various document modifications that need to beperformed by the system.

In act 804, the system determines whether the received write commitcommand includes any data element (e.g., document) modifications. Writecommit commands may fail to make any document modifications for avariety of reasons. For example, a write commit command may request theaddition of an entry to documents that do not already contain the entry.In this example, the write commit command may not have to make anydocument modifications if all of the documents already contain theentries. In these circumstances, the system may, for example, analyzedata in the primary node of the database to determine whether anydocument modifications are necessary. If no document modifications arenecessary, the system proceeds to act 806 and returns a write commitconfirmation. Otherwise, the system proceeds to act 808 to write thedata.

In act 808, the system writes the appropriate data to the primary and/orsecondary nodes based on the requested changes in the write commitcommand. In some embodiments, the system may write the data by writingthe data to the primary node and adding the appropriate operations tothe oplog for the secondary nodes to perform. The system may also sendexplicit commands to all (or a portion) of the secondary nodes to reducethe time required for a sufficient number of secondary nodes toreplicate the changes in the oplog.

In act 810, the system determines whether the write was committed. Insome embodiments, the system may determine whether a write was committedusing the committed snapshot. For example, the system may determinewhether the operation(s) in the write commit command are included in thecommitted snapshot. If the operation(s) are included in the committedsnapshot, the system may determine that the write has been committed.Otherwise, the system may determine that the write has not beencommitted. Additionally (or alternatively), the system may determinewhether a write was committed based on a number of confirmationsreceived from secondary nodes indicating that the operations added tothe oplog in act 808 have been completed. For example, the system mayhave 11 secondary nodes and the system may determine that the write wascommitted once at least 6 confirmations have been received fromsecondary nodes. If the write has been committed, the system proceeds toact 806 and returns a write commit confirmation. Otherwise, the systemrepeats act 810 until the write has been committed.

It should be appreciated that various alterations may be made to thewrite-commit process 800A without departing from the scope of thisdisclosure. For example, the system may wait for the last oplog entry tobe committed before returning a write commit confirmation regardless ofthe write commit command received. The write commit process 800B in FIG.8B illustrates such an example process. As shown, the write commitprocess 800B adds an act 812 of determining whether the last oplog entrywas committed in cases where the system determines that the write commitcommand does not modify documents in act 804.

In act 812, the system determines whether one or more oplog entries havebeen committed. For example, the system may determine whether the latestoplog entry that occurred before the write commit command was made hasbeen committed. In another example, the system may determine whether theoplog entry that made the data in the primary data storage nodeconsistent with the change requested in the write commit command hasbeen committed. If the oplog entry has been committed, the systemproceeds to act 806 and returns a write commit confirmation. Otherwise,the system repeats act 812. The determination of whether the last oplogentry has been committed in act 812 may be performed in a similarfashion to the determination of whether the write was committed in act810 described above. For example, the system may wait for a sufficientnumber of confirmations from secondary nodes that have replicated thelatest oplog entry so as to commit the last oplog entry.

Example Special-Purpose Computer System

A special-purpose computer system can be specially configured asdisclosed herein. According to one embodiment the special-purposecomputer system is configured to perform any of the described operationsand/or algorithms. The operations and/or algorithms described herein canalso be encoded as software executing on hardware that defines aprocessing component, that can define portions of a special purposecomputer, reside on an individual special-purpose computer, and/orreside on multiple special-purpose computers.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of an example special-purpose computersystem 900 on which various aspects of the present invention can bepracticed. For example, computer system 900 may include a processor 906connected to one or more memory devices 910, such as a disk drive,memory, or other device for storing data. Memory 910 is typically usedfor storing programs and data during operation of the computer system900. Components of computer system 900 can be coupled by aninterconnection mechanism 908, which may include one or more busses(e.g., between components that are integrated within a same machine)and/or a network (e.g., between components that reside on separatediscrete machines). The interconnection mechanism enables communications(e.g., data, instructions) to be exchanged between system components ofsystem 900.

Computer system 900 may also include one or more input/output (I/O)devices 902-904, for example, a keyboard, mouse, trackball, microphone,touch screen, a printing device, display screen, speaker, etc. Storage912, typically includes a computer readable and writeable nonvolatilerecording medium in which computer executable instructions are storedthat define a program to be executed by the processor or informationstored on or in the medium to be processed by the program.

The medium can, for example, be a disk 1002 or flash memory as shown inFIG. 10. Typically, in operation, the processor causes data to be readfrom the nonvolatile recording medium into another memory 1004 thatallows for faster access to the information by the processor than doesthe medium. This memory is typically a volatile, random access memorysuch as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or static memory (SRAM).According to one embodiment, the computer-readable medium comprises anon-transient storage medium on which computer executable instructionsare retained.

Referring again to FIG. 9, the memory can be located in storage 912 asshown, or in memory system 910. The processor 906 generally manipulatesthe data within the memory 910, and then copies the data to the mediumassociated with storage 912 after processing is completed. A variety ofmechanisms are known for managing data movement between the medium andintegrated circuit memory element and the invention is not limitedthereto. The invention is not limited to a particular memory system orstorage system.

The computer system may include specially-programmed, special-purposehardware, for example, an application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC). Aspects of the invention can be implemented in software,hardware or firmware, or any combination thereof. Although computersystem 900 is shown by way of example, as one type of computer systemupon which various aspects of the invention can be practiced, it shouldbe appreciated that aspects of the invention are not limited to beingimplemented on the computer system as shown in FIG. 9. Various aspectsof the invention can be practiced on one or more computers having adifferent architectures or components than that shown in FIG. 9.

It should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to executingon any particular system or group of systems. Also, it should beappreciated that the invention is not limited to any particulardistributed architecture, network, or communication protocol.

Various embodiments of the invention can be programmed using anobject-oriented programming language, such as Java, C++, Ada, or C#(C-Sharp). Other programming languages may also be used. Alternatively,functional, scripting, and/or logical programming languages can be used.Various aspects of the invention can be implemented in a non-programmedenvironment (e.g., documents created in HTML, XML or other format that,when viewed in a window of a browser program, render aspects of agraphical-user interface (GUI) or perform other functions). The systemlibraries of the programming languages are incorporated herein byreference. Various aspects of the invention can be implemented asprogrammed or non-programmed elements, or any combination thereof.

Various aspects of this invention can be implemented by one or moresystems similar to system 1100 shown in FIG. 11. For instance, thesystem can be a distributed system (e.g., client server, multi-tiersystem) that includes multiple special-purpose computer systems. In oneexample, the system includes software processes executing on a systemassociated with hosting database services, processing operationsreceived from client computer systems, interfacing with APIs, receivingand processing client database requests, routing database requests,routing targeted database request, routing global database requests,determining global a request is necessary, determining a targetedrequest is possible, verifying database operations, managing datadistribution, replicating database data, migrating database data,identifying committed data, etc. These systems can also permit clientsystems to request database operations transparently, with variousrouting processes handling and processing requests for data as a singleinterface, where the routing processes can manage data retrieval fromdatabase partitions, merge responses, and return results as appropriateto the client, among other operations.

There can be other computer systems that perform functions such ashosting replicas of database data, with each server hosting databasepartitions implemented as a replica set, among other functions. Thesesystems can be distributed among a communication system such as theInternet. One such distributed network, as discussed below with respectto FIG. 11, can be used to implement various aspects of the invention.Various replication protocols can be implemented, and in someembodiments, different replication protocols can be implemented, withthe data stored in the database replication under one model, e.g.,asynchronous replication of a replica set, with metadata serverscontrolling updating and replication of database metadata under astricter consistency model, e.g., requiring two phase commit operationsfor updates.

FIG. 11 shows an architecture diagram of an example distributed system1100 suitable for implementing various aspects of the invention. Itshould be appreciated that FIG. 11 is used for illustration purposesonly, and that other architectures can be used to facilitate one or moreaspects of the invention.

System 1100 may include one or more specially configured special-purposecomputer systems 1104, 1106, and 1108 distributed among a network 1102such as, for example, the Internet. Such systems may cooperate toperform functions related to hosting a partitioned database, managingdatabase metadata, monitoring distribution of database partitions,monitoring size of partitions, splitting partitions as necessary,migrating partitions as necessary, identifying sequentially keyedcollections, optimizing migration, splitting, and rebalancing forcollections with sequential keying architectures.

CONCLUSION

Having thus described several aspects and embodiments of this invention,it is to be appreciated that various alterations, modifications andimprovements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Suchalterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part ofthis disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way ofexample only.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” “a,” “b,” “c,”etc., in the claims to modify or otherwise identify a claim element doesnot by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claimelement over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method areperformed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claimelement having a certain name from another element having a same name(but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A database system comprising: at least oneprocessor configured to execute a plurality of system components,wherein the plurality of system components comprise: an interfacecomponent configured to receive a write commit command and provide awrite commit confirmation; a snapshot component configured to: generatea plurality of snapshots of data stored in a first data storage node ofa plurality of data storage nodes, wherein the first data storage nodestores an operation log comprising a plurality of database operationsperformed on the first data storage node; and identify a first snapshotfrom the plurality of snapshots that is representative of data that hasbeen replicated on a majority of the plurality of data storage nodes asa committed snapshot; and a command processing component configured to:determine whether the write commit command modifies at least one dataelement in the first data storage node; and responsive to the writecommit command modifying the at least one data element in the first datastorage node, determine whether at least one entry in the operation loghas been replicated by the majority of data storage nodes in theplurality of data storage nodes using the committed snapshot.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the command processing component is furtherconfigured to generate the write commit confirmation responsive to thewrite commit command not modifying the at least one data element in thefirst data storage node.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the commandprocessing component is further to send a command to at least one datastorage node in the plurality of data storage nodes to replicate themodification of the at least one data element in the first data storagenode responsive to modifying the at least one data element in the firstdata storage node.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the interfacecomponent is further configured to receive a confirmation from a seconddata storage node of the plurality of data storage nodes that the seconddata storage node has replicated the modification to the at least onedata element.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the snapshot componentis further configured to identify a second snapshot from the pluralityof snapshots as the committed snapshot responsive to receipt of theconfirmation from the second data storage node.
 6. The system of claim5, wherein the snapshot component is further to remove the firstsnapshot from the plurality of snapshots responsive to identifying thesecond snapshot as the committed snapshot.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the command processing component is configured to, responsive tothe write commit command modifying the at least one data element in thefirst data storage node: modify the at least one data element in thefirst data storage node based on the write commit command; determinewhether the majority of the plurality of storage nodes have replicatedthe modification to the at least one data element using the committedsnapshot; and generate the write commit confirmation responsive to adetermination that the majority of the plurality of data storage nodeshave replicated the modification to the at least one data element. 8.The system of claim 7, wherein the command processing component isfurther configured to generate the write commit confirmation responsiveto a determination that the majority of the plurality of data storagenodes replicated the at least one entry in the operation log.
 9. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the at least one entry in the operation logcomprises a newest entry in the operation log that occurred beforereceipt of the write commit command.
 10. The system of claim 1, whereinthe interface component is further configured to receive a write commandand wherein the command processing component is further configured towrite data to the first data storage node responsive to receipt of thewrite command.
 11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a databaseincluding the plurality of data storage nodes and wherein the databasefollows an eventual consistency model.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the first data storage node is a primary data storage node and aremainder of the data storage nodes of the plurality of data storagenodes are secondary data storage nodes.
 13. The system of claim 11,wherein the first data storage node includes an operation log and aremainder of the data storage nodes of the plurality of data storagenodes are configured to retrieve the operation log and replicateoperations in the operation log.
 14. A method of performing operationsin a computer database, comprising: generating, by a snapshot componentexecuted by at least one processor, a plurality of snapshots of datastored in a first data storage node of a plurality of data storagenodes, wherein the first data storage node stores an operation logcomprising a plurality of database operations performed on the firstdata storage node; identifying, by the snapshot component executed bythe at least one processor, a first snapshot from the plurality ofsnapshots that is representative of data that has been replicated on amajority of the plurality of data storage nodes as a committed snapshot;receiving, by an interface component executed by the at least oneprocessor, a write commit command; determining, by a command processingcomponent executed by the at least one processor, whether the writecommit command modifies at least one data element in the first datastorage node; responsive to the write commit command modifying the atleast one data element in the first data storage node, determine whetherat least one entry in the operation log has been replicated by themajority of data storage nodes in the plurality of data storage nodesusing the committed snapshot.
 15. The method of claim 14, furthercomprising generating the write commit confirmation responsive to thewrite commit command not modifying the at least one data element in thefirst data storage node.
 16. The method of claim 14, further comprisingreceiving a confirmation from a second data storage node of theplurality of data storage nodes that the second data storage node hasreplicated the modification to the at least one data element.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising identifying a second snapshotfrom the plurality of snapshots as the committed snapshot responsive toreceipt of the confirmation from the second data storage node.
 18. Themethod of claim 14, further comprising, responsive to the write commitcommand modifying the at least one data element in the first datastorage node: modify the at least one data element in the first datastorage node based on the write commit command; determine whether themajority of the plurality of storage nodes have replicated themodification to the at least one data element using the committedsnapshot; and generate the write commit confirmation responsive to adetermination that the majority of the plurality of data storage nodeshave replicated the modification to the at least one data element. 19.The method of claim 18, further comprising generating the write commitconfirmation responsive to a determination that the majority of theplurality of data storage nodes replicated the at least one entry in theoperation log.
 20. A database system comprising: a database configuredto follow an eventual consistency model and comprising a primary datastorage node storing an operation log and a plurality of secondary datastorage nodes configured to retrieve the operation log from the primarydata storage node and replicate operations in the operation log; and atleast one processor configured to execute a plurality of systemcomponents, wherein the plurality of system components comprise: aninterface component configured to receive a write commit command andprovide a write commit confirmation; a snapshot component configured to:generate a plurality of snapshots of data stored in the primary datastorage node, wherein the first data storage node stores an operationlog comprising a plurality of database operations performed on the firstdata storage node; and identify a first snapshot from the plurality ofsnapshots that is representative of data that has been replicated on amajority of the plurality of secondary data storage nodes as a committedsnapshot; and identify a second snapshot from the plurality of snapshotsas the committed snapshot responsive to one or more secondary datastorages nodes replicating at least one operation in the operation log;and a command processing component configured to: determine whether thewrite commit command modifies at least one document in a primary datastorage node; and responsive to the write commit command modifying theat least one document in the primary data storage node, determinewhether at least one entry in the operation log has been replicated bythe majority of data storage nodes in the plurality of data storagenodes using the committed snapshot.